Virtuoso Voices™ - Robert Spano (Barber Memorial) 0:24
January 2010 CD 


[Use this clip to enhance your introduction of Robert Spano conducting the Barber "Adagio for Strings" or the Barber "Agnus Dei" (choral setting of the Adagio). (Telarc 80673)]


SUGGESTED HOST INTRO

It started out as the slow movement for a string quartet, but with the help of a major film, and its presence at prominent national events, Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings has become the American memorial anthem. The Barber Adagio is on a recent CD with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra conducted by Robert Spano.


CLIP TRANSCRIPT

“Well I think the reason it works so well as a memorial tribute is that it speaks to us on a deep emotional level.  And certainly there may be peace, transcendence and all of that but there’s certainly the dark side of our emotional lives at play in the piece because inherently that music speaks to those levels of emotion in us, I think.”


SUGGESTED HOST OUTRO

Conductor Robert Spano talking about emotional connections that have transformed Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings into a memorial-like anthem.  He conducts two versions of the Barber "Adagio" on his recent CD:  there's the well known string version and a choral version, set to the text of the traditional Latin prayer, “Agnus Dei.”  We’ll hear (insert version of choice and performers).



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